The Prodigal Child
by Furitaurus
Summary: A one shot showing how Revan was first encountered by a jedi and accepted for training.


This is a one shot telling the story of how Revan first met a jedi and was accepted for training. It is told as if he himself were telling the story.

**The Prodigal Child**

I was always told by my parents and people I knew that I was special. Why this was I could not understand. Perhaps it was partly because I had learned to walk and talk so quickly, you know how parents get when their child takes their first steps or says their first words, or in my case, words. Even by the age of one I was running around our house and becoming adept at stringing words together to create comprehensible sentences. Apparently there were very few children capable of doing such things; learning about things so quickly. I was 'gifted' apparently. Still, I could not understand what it was that made me so capable. I understand now of course because with time comes knowledge, and much time has passed.

I was born on one of the members of the Galactic Republic, the temperate, fertile planet Tiberius, nothing particularly special about the place, nor my birth for that matter. After much deliberation, my parents decided to name me 'Revan'. I didn't know it at the time of course, but it was a name that would one day be recognised everywhere. A name loved by many, and feared by even more.

My parents, from what I can remember, were a middle class couple, both with decent, secure jobs, working in one of the planet's larger cities, Mobeth. My mother worked as a receptionist for the Galactic Senator, representing my planet. My father was an engineer, mostly working on droids and swoop bikes; it was tricky work and quite taxing, physically. But at least he got a reduced price on tickets to watch the swoop races. I used to love watching them with him and my mother, the speed, the danger, the exhilaration and of course, the glory.

'Mummy, daddy, I want to be a swoop racer!' I always used to squeal after every match. My parents loved me, I know. Maybe that's why they decided to let me go when they did.

We lived in a very pleasant neighbourhood; a good place for a child to grow up, very low crime rates, a sense of intimacy and community between our fellow residents, who ranged from Humans to Twi'leks to Rodians. Near our house was a huge market, famous across the galaxy for the innumerable things they sold there, that my parents frequented in their spare time. To an extremely inquisitive child like me this was paradise. It was at that market that, at three years old, I met the man who would change my destiny forever.

I was with my parents at the time; they were at one stand, browsing the many fruits, vegetables, meats and whatnot from planets across the galaxy that was on display. I could not explain it at the time, but as I was standing there with them both, I felt a certain attraction, or distraction, like something was forcibly drawing my attention away from my parents.

Me being me I decided to search for what the source of this presence was. Weaving in and out and under people's legs I reached a stall that I had only seen once or twice. On display was a collection of the most beautiful stones and crystals I had ever seen, they were all very small, barely the size of my three year old fist, but they were dazzling, glowing green, blue, yellow, purple and red. It was run by a blue skinned Twi'lek who seemed to be bartering with a customer, who was asking for something called a 'Damind crystal' and a 'Sigil crystal' I had no idea what he was talking about. I set my eyes upon the customer and noticed he looked a lot different from most of the other people I had seen in this place.

He was wearing light brown hooded robes of some sort; I had never seen such plain and simple clothes before. The man himself was mid height for a human, nearly six feet tall, quite athletic looking and with a short crop of black hair.

I saw, hooked onto his belt, a silvery, cylindrical looking device, with intricate markings. Seeing as I didn't really know what it meant to 'steal' something, my curiosity took the better of me and I reached for the device. The man hadn't even looked at me when his hand grabbed onto mine, stopping me instantly. He looked down on me, questioningly, and then raised an eyebrow.

Squatting down so that his eyes came level with mine, he studied me.

"You're a little young to be wandering around here by yourself aren't you?" he asked.

I don't think he was expecting an answer from me given how young I was, which would explain the look of surprise on his face when I spoke.

"Mummy and daddy are… ummm. They were with me…" I began looking around for them, realising that I had wandered off without even telling them. Such is the foolishness of children, even one such as I.

"Mum!" I called out. There was no answer.

"Mum!" I yelled out again, louder, but with no response.

"How old are you, boy?"

I turned back to him, "I'm three." I mumbled.

"How long have you been able to speak as well as this?"

"Uhh, a couple of years… maybe."

The man seemed quite amazed, "Interesting." He spoke quietly, almost to himself.

"Do you know where your parents are, kid?"

"They were over in that direction… I think." I pointed to where I had come from.

"Tell you what then, lets find them, I would like to talk to them."

"Ok."

I wasn't very big at the time, so the man hitched me up to his right shoulder with his arm and he walked in the direction I thought I came from.

"So what's your name, kid?" asked the man.

"I'm Revan. What's yours?"

"My name is Vrook, Revan."

Weaving in and out of people made our progress quite slow, fortunately from my elevated position my head was above most other people's heads. About twenty metres away I spotted the stall that mum and dad were at, though they were no longer standing there.

"Mum!" I shouted out.

Somewhere slightly further up the street from the stall I saw two heads turn sharply towards my direction. I instinctively knew it was them.

"Mum!" I shouted again, this time they spotted me.

"Revan!" my mum shouted, ploughing through anyone in her way, my dad at her heels.

Reaching us, Vrook handed me over to my mum who hugged me incredibly tightly; it made it a challenge to breath.

"Don't you **ever **wander away from us like that again without telling us, young man, you hear me?"

"I'm sorry mum." I whimpered.

My dad approached Vrook, "Where did you find him?"

"Your son approached me whilst I was buying a couple of crystals from a stall over in that direction, though he seemed to be more interested in my lightsaber than me, he tried to take it from my belt."

"Oh!" My father stammered, "You're a Jedi? Oh, thank you master Jedi, I don't know what we would have done if we had lost him."

"Think nothing of it, that's what I'm here for. Though I hope you both remember to keep a hold of him next time, because someone like me may not be around to help."

"Yes, yes of course, it was stupid of us to not keep a hold of him," my mother said apologetically "Revan has always been a bit of an explorer, sometimes things just grab his attention and he'll pursue it until he has it."

"So I noticed. I am curious though as to how long he was missing before he found me. Do you know?"

"Only about five minutes I should think, still, that's five minutes too many in our book." said dad. "Why?"

"Well, in order to get to the stall that I was standing at, you would have to waste almost five minutes travelling through the crowd. Meaning he went straight from this stall to the other stall. Now there are many other stalls on route that would be equally interesting to a child, but he didn't stop at those, he came straight to me. Now where I come from, that's not just a coincidence."

"What are you saying?" mum asked.

"Well, it is a bit of a bold statement to make, especially seeing as I am not yet a master, and not something to be taken lightly either, but some of the signs of force sensitivity are here in your boy; rapid learning of language at a young age, easily drawn towards force sensitive individual, which would explain why he came directly to me, his first instinct was to take the lightsaber."

"Are you saying he's a Jedi?" asked mum.

"Hahaha, don't be so confident ma'am, he's not a Jedi unless he's trained. But even now as I look at him I sense he has a strong affinity for the force. Tell me Revan, do you know why you came to me?"

I turned around, still in my mothers arms. "I don't really know, when I was with mum and dad I felt like there was someone watching me from behind, I turned around and there was no one there, but it still felt like I was being watched, so I started walking in the direction I thought I was being watched from. Then I found you."

Vrook looked very surprised.

"This is very remarkable indeed." He looked at my parents "I have a request to make mister…"

"Oh, sorry, my name is Ashton and this is my wife Krysta."

"Ashton, I may not yet be a master, but I think your son has 'Jedi' written all over him. I will need to consult with one of the Jedi masters on Coruscant, to see if they confirm my suspicions."

My parents were stunned. Never had they ever thought they would bear a child with Jedi potential.

"Wow, what do we do whilst you are speaking to one of the masters?" asked my mother.

"You'll just have to wait now won't you? Hopefully I shall not be too long once I have relayed all these events to the masters. I have no accommodation on Tiberius so I shall meet with you at your house and explain the situation. Personally I'd like to take him now and begin his training immediately, the Jedi are still reeling from the war with Exar Kun and we need every apprentice we can get our hands on. Still, this must be done by the book. Where do you live exactly?"

"East Street fifteen, house thirty two, it's only a ten minute walk from here."

"Very well, this is where we part ways, for now. I shall return in the late afternoon, hopefully with good news."

It all seemed too complex to me, but what did I know about Jedi? Vrook left us to think about this sudden turn of events, and we ourselves returned to our house.

My parents talked a lot about me and what I could become. They told me Jedi were great people- protectors of the innocent, upholders of justice, champions of truth. To me they sounded like gods and I was eager to join them, though I did not know what I would have to sacrifice in order to join them. As I soon learned, everything, no matter how wonderful, always has a price to pay.

Vrook came to our house at just gone four. My parents welcomed him in and the grown-ups sat down to some Corellian ale.

"I have spoken with master Vandar, the head of our order and he agrees that Revan has what it takes to become a Jedi. You are lucky as well; if he were any older he would not have allowed this."

"I see, so what happens now?" asked mother.

"Well, all this is a moot point if you two are not willing to part with him, as much as we need apprentices like Revan, we do not force parents to give up their children."

"What do you mean 'part with him'?"

"From the moment they become apprentices, Jedi are not allowed to see their parents, such strong emotional attachments to other people are dangerous. If something went wrong in the relationship or one of them dies, anger and even hate may ensue, and both those emotions lead to the dark side. We cannot afford pupils to fall as Exar Kun did."

"We won't be able to see him at all?" asked mother, I saw tears in her eyes.

"I'm sorry Krysta, but that's the way it has to be if you agree to this." I could tell Vrook was familiar with this scenario; he had all the passionless serenity of a Jedi who had seen it all, even though he didn't look much older than twenty five.

"So with this in mind, I now must ask you, are you willing to part ways with Revan, and even more importantly perhaps, are you, Revan?"

To be honest I was mixed on the subject, everything was happening in a whirlwind, I didn't really feel as if I had time to think about my decision. Perhaps that was a good thing though, if I had the time to think about it, I may have decided not to join the order, then I would have just been a regular guy. Sometimes I shudder at the thought when I compare that to what I am now.

I thought becoming a Jedi would be the most amazing thing ever, but I also did not like the idea of never seeing my parents again.

"I want to be a Jedi, mummy!" I said. I sounded more sure than I probably was. Perhaps it was because I thought that there was no genuine way the Jedi could stop me from seeing my parents again.

My mother looked at my father and they both knew that they should not hold me back from becoming someone of great significance simply because they would miss me. A tear fell from both their eyes, but they looked at Vrook and nodded.

"You may train him… Master Vrook." said my dad, his voice faltering slightly. "Just make sure you take good care of him."

"I promise you I will do my utmost to protect and guide him, Ashton. You have my word on that."

"When will you be going?" asked mother.

"As soon as possible really, I will give you some time to pack some things and say goodbye of course."

They both nodded.

"Well," said mum, sniffling "better get packing then." She and I got up and left for my room, leaving Vrook and father to talk.

The sun was setting over the suburban landscape, the windows of houses twinkled orange and yellow, it was a site I enjoyed watching in the evenings, and took a moment to look at it one last time.

Crouching down to my height, my father hugged me firmly and kissed me on the cheek. "Goodbye son, you work hard, listen to what master Vrook teaches you. Do great things, good things. Be the best. I know you can."

'The best' Ha! Looking at my situation now, I guess I fulfilled that request.

"I will dad. I'll miss you too." My voice was crumbling slightly.

"I love you, son"

"I love you too daddy."

He slowly let go, allowing my mother to take his place, her cheeks were a little puffy, and wet with tears.

"My little soldier's going to be a Jedi. I always knew you were extra special. Make mummy proud." She kissed me and held me tight, as I, her.

"I promise. I love you mummy."

"I love you too honey."

She glanced up at Vrook, who gave a small nod.

"Ok sweety, it's time for you to go. Good luck, Revan."

She let me go and stood up, one side of her fist on her lips and the other arm supporting it. My father placed his arm around her and gave me a smile.

"Let's go Revan, your destiny now lies hand in hand with the force. It will be a long journey, but it will be worth it in the end."

Indeed it was, Vrook.

As I climbed into Vrook's speeder, I took one last look at my parents and waved to them, memorising their faces, and silently promising myself that I would see them again, someday.


End file.
